Portable anchoring and fishing windlass



Jan. 18, 1955 R. BUSH PORTABLE ANCHORING AND FISHING WINDLASS Filed June16, 1949 zz i ICIU 1 I v 9 /z 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS.

Jan. 18, 1955 BUSH 2,699,918

PORTABLE ANCHORING AND FISHING WINDLASS Filed June 16, 1949 2Sheets-Sheet 2 v flay Bash I INVENTOR BY M ATTORNEYS United StatesPatent PORTABLE ANCHORING AND FISHING WINDLASS Ray Bush, Clarksburg, W.Va., assignor to Martin Saportas, Tampa, Fla.

Application June 16, 1949, Serial No. 99,501 1 Claim, (Cl. 254-186) Thisinvention relates to a portable anchoring and fishing Windlass.

Byway of background, the inconveniences attendant upon the anchoring ofsuch craft as small boats used with outboard motors, etc., are Wellknown. Generally, a boat of this type is simply equipped with a lengthof rope to which the anchor is tied, and when one proceeds to anchor theboat, as for fishing operations, he simply drops the anchor overboardand'allows the rope to pay itself out. Subsequently, when it is desiredto up anchor, it is necessary to haul upwardly upon the rope until theanchor is within the boat, and it will be well appreciated that the wetrope brings considerable water into the boat, and additionally isslippery and wet in handling.

It is an important object of the present invention, accordingly, toprovide a portable anchoring and fishing Windlass that is capable ofbeing removably mounted upon small boats of any type, and which whenmounted, is adapted to support the anchor in a manner whereby the anchorcan be payed out simply upon release of a ratchet member, and wherebyfurther, the anchor can be hauled in by simple crank rotation.

Another important object is to provide a device of the type stated whichwill overhang the sides of the boat, so that neither the user nor theinside of the boat will become wet during dropping or hauling up of theanchor.

Another important object is to provide a device of the type stated whichwill be readily adjustable to meet conditions imposed by varied boatconstruction.

Still another important object is to provide a device of the type statedwhich not only can be used as an anchoring Windlass, but also, can beused in deep sea fishing operations by supporting a fishing line insteadof an anchor cable.

Another important object is to provide a device of the type statedwhich, although particularly well suited for use on small boats, can beused with equal efiiciency on boats of larger size simply by increase inthe general size of the component parts of the device.

Another important object is to provide a device of the type stated whichwill permit the anchor to be hauled upwardly with considerable speed andwhich, additionally, is fully controllable during dropping of theanchor.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as thedescription proceeds, the invention consists of certain novel details ofconstruction and combinations of parts, hereinafter more fully describedand pointed out in the claim, it being understood that changes may bemade in the construction and arrangement of parts without departing fromthe spirit of the invention as claimed.

Referring to the drawings Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of aportable anchor and fishing Windlass constructed in accordance with theinvention.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation.

Fig. 3 is a transverse section through the upper portion thereof, takenon line 33 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged front elevation of said upper portion, portionsbeing broken away to show details of inner construction.

Fig. 5 is an exploded perspective view of a pawl for controlling theratchet.

Referring to the drawings in detail, a U-clamp 5 is adapted to straddleany suitable portion of a boat, not shown, said U-clamp being providedwith the spaced apart nuts 6 Welded thereon in which are threaded thePatented Jan. 18, 19,55

clamping screws 7 having the swivelled feet 8 for adjusting the clampsto irregular surfaces which may exist on the article to which the clampis applied.

Welded or otherwise rigidly secured to the upper end of the clamp, andextended upwardly therefrom, is an open ended sleeve 9 in which isremovably seated the pin 10 formed integral at its upper end with theenlarged head 11, so as to define an annular shoulder 12 adapted to seatagainst the upper end of the sleeve 9.

The upper end of the head 11 is formed with an angular cut away portion13 one wall of which is provided with the radially disposed teeth 14. Anupper arm 15 is formed at its upper end with a complementary cut awayportion also formed with teeth adapted to engage be tween the teeth 14,so that said upper arm 15 can be swingably adjusted relative to thelower arm comprising the pin 10 and head 11, and after being swingablyadjusted, can be fixedly secured in its adjusted position byinterengagement of the teeth. For the purpose of securing the upper andlower arms against relative movement after said adjustment has beenmade, I provide the stud 16 that extends through both arms, with wingnut 17 being threaded upon said stud and against the upper arm 15.

The upper end of the upper arm 15 is extended up.- wardly between a pairof opposed supporting brackets 18, and is rigidly secured therebetweenby means of bolt and nut means 19 or other suitable fasteners.

The upper ends of the brackets 18 support between them the circularcup-like casing 20 closed by the removable peripherally fianged cover21, with a suitable number of transversely extended bolt and nut means22 being used to secure the brackets to each other and to the cover andcasing respectively.

Rotatably mounted within the casing is the reel or spool 23 peripherallygrooved any desired depth for the purpose of permitting winding thereonof a selected length of anchor cable or fishing line.

The reel 23 is secured to a reel shaft 24 for rotation therewith, saidshaft 24 extending through the wall of the casing and having itsprojecting portion equipped with the collar 25 having the set screw 26threadable against the shaft 24 to prevent endwise movement of saidshaft relative to the casing.

The other end of the shaft is journaled for rotation within the cover21. Adjacent said cover 21, the shaft is equipped with another collar2'7 also secured to the shaft by means of a set screw, and said collar27 is formed with a wide peripheral flange 28 having openings receivingscrews 29 or the like whereby said flange is secured to one side of thereel 23. Thus, the reel 23 and shaft 24 are mounted for rotation withinthe casing, and means are provided therefor that prevent any lateraldeviation during rotative movement.

Secured to the other face of the reel or spool 23 is the ratchet 30having the peripheral series of teeth as shown in Fig. 4, said ratchet30 being secured to the reel or spool by a plurality ofcircumferentially spaced screws or similar fastening means, thus tocause the ratchet to rotate with said reel or spool. A pawl 31 isemployed for the purpose of controlling movement of the ratchet, saidpawl 31 being pivotally mounted upon a screw 32 that threads into thewall of the casing, and the free end of said pawl having the laterallyextended holding tooth 33 adapted to engage in any of the peripheralnotches of the ratchet as shown in Fig. 4.

I provide means for releasably holding the pawl 31 in engagement withthe ratchet 30, to prevent rotary movement of the ratchet and reel inone direction under normal conditions, and said means comprises the holddown spring 34 secured at one end to the casing wall as at 35 and havingits other end formed with a loop that extends around male screw 36extending through the pawl intermediate the ends thereof and threadablein female screw 38 that extends through the wall of the casing andprovides an operating handle for the pawl.

As particularly seen in Fig. 4, the pawl handle 38 extends'through ashort arcuate slot 37 formed in the wall of the casing, said slot 37limiting movement in opposite directions of said pawl handle, and, as aresult, also limiting movement of the pawl 31.

Referring now to the shaft 24 of the reel or spool 23, that portion ofthe shaft that extends through the casing cover 21 is secured to thesmall gear 39 meshing with the large gear 40, said large gear 40 beingmounted upon a stub shaft that is journaled in the cover 21, there beingsecured to said stub shaft the operating crank 41.

The gears are mounted within the gear box or cover 42, that is securedto the outer surface of the cover 21 by screws or similar means.

At the upper end of the casing, I provide the converging pulley brackets43, 44 secured to the casing and casing cover by the fastening means 22,said pulley brackets supporting for rotation the pulley 45 around whichpasses the anchor cable 46, which can also be a fishing line undercertain conditions. Said line 46 is extended into a suitable opening 47formed in the top of the casing, and thereafter the line is wound uponthe reel or spool 23.

In use of the device, it will be seen that the device is readily clampedin any desired location by means of the clamp 5. After the clamp hasbeen applied, the device can be supported by the clamp simply bydropping the pin into the sleeve 9. Thereafter, any angular adjustmentsare effected by means of the cooperating members 11, capable of beingsecured in pivotally adjusted relationship.

Assuming that the boat is moved to a location where it is desired toanchor the boat against further movement,

it is necessary only that the pawl handle 38 be elevated by movementthereof to the other end of the short slot 37. Referring to Fig. 4, thiselevates the pawl 31 so that the tooth 33 thereof moves out ofengagement with the ratchet 30. As a result, the anchor gravitates tothe bottom, and when the anchor has fully engaged, the pawl handle 38 isreleased and is automatically returned into engagement with the ratchetby means of the hold down spring 34.

At such time as it is desired to up anchor, it is necessary only thatthe crank 41 be rotated, whereupon the pawl will slip over the ratchetteeth, and the anchor can be elevated to any desired extent. On releaseof the crank 41, the anchor will remain in the position to which it willhave been hauled upwardly.

During the hauling up of the anchor, it is obvious that no water willget into the boat, nor will the operator become wet, this being due tothe fact that the device as a Whole can be adjusted so as to bepositioned over the side of the vessel, with the steel anchor cable 46shedding water as it is wound upon the reel.

It will be seen from the above that the operation of dropping or haulingup the anchor is not attended by any inconvenience such as hasheretofore existed, the device being capable of speedy and eflicientoperation. In this connection, the gears 39, 40 comprise a stepped upgearing means that causes the anchor to be hauled up with considerablespeed. Preferably, a three to one gear ratio is employed, but of course,this ratio can be varied as desired.

In this connection, the reel or spool 23 itself comprises a part of thegear train, in effect, said spool 23 being mounted on the same shaft asthe small gear 39 but being of considerably increased diameter relativeto said small gear 3 If the device is to be used in fishing operations,it will be understood that a suitable fishing line would be substitutedfor the anchor cable 46, whereupon the device is mounted upon the sideof a vessel in the manner previously described, and is then capable ofuse in trolling operations or the like.

What is claimed is:

A fishing reel comprising a cylindrical housing, a reel journaled insaid housing, a crank for rotating said reel, a ratchet rotatable withsaid reel within said housing, a pawl pivotally mounted within saidhousing and operable from the exterior of said housing and operable tohold said reel against reverse rotation, means carried by said housingat the lower end thereof for mounting said reel on a gunwale of a boat,said housing having an arcuate slot in its upper end, a pair of armscarried by the upper end of said housing also extending outwardly andupwardly therefrom on opposite sides of said slot, a pulley journaled insaid pair of arms adjacent said slot for guiding a cable carried by saidreel and extending through said slot and over said pulley upwardly andoutwardly beyond the housing and the gunwale of the boat, gears carriedby one wall of said housing and providing a driving connection betweensaid crank and reel, and a cover detachably secured to said housing andextending over said gears to protect the same, said housing and covercompletely enclosing the moving parts of said reel except said crank andone end of said pawl.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,059,998 Jacques Apr. 21, 1913 1,109,052 Edman et a1 Sept. 1, 19141,192,077 Kurth July 25, 1916 1,800,851 Wennerstrom Apr. 14, 19312,270,271 Coifing J an. 20, 1942

